Costa Rica Birdwatching

Traveler Reviews

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  Laine

  June 13th, 2025
  5.0
  Wonderful experience with knowledgeable & friendly guide! We saw so many species & learned a lot in the process.
  Traveled in June 2025
  

  Reply from: Elemento Natural Costa Rica

  Thank you Laine, it was lovely to meet you and help you with the travel plan to Costa Rica!

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• L

  Lisanne

  May 12th, 2025
  3.0
  SUMMARY We enjoyed the bird watching, but it's really very special. We are no professionals and wanted to see and...
  SUMMARY We enjoyed the bird watching, but it's really very special. We are no professionals and wanted to see and learn about the animals. Birds are most time very far away and immediately flying away, if you come a little closer. We had several morning tours starting at 6am, so very early. There are so many more animals to see and discover, also much more to see of Costa Rica and their culture. For us, we missed a lot. To see chances for a visit and photo stopps while driving made us a little sad, cause those all were missed chances. We enjoyed a lot the accomodations which brought us to silence and peace and far away from crowds of tourists. We had many questions which no one could answer because of language problems or missing knowledge. We recommend it, if you are only interested in bird watching and nothing else. Organization: I asked very early after booking for communication via whatsapp, cause its easier, they didn't do. Some easy questions were not really answered, they send FAQ-document which also didn't give the answer. Then in Tortuguero we had problems cause documents and entry tickets were also missing. I had to take care of it, the Tortuguero-guide made it to our problem. Super annoying. The later the tour start was, the cheaper it became. So better book late. We paid about 200€ more, having it for the lower price was of course not possible and we were told that it would be worth it. More or less it was. Trip: 1. Tortuguero: The guide told us 200 times that your tip is a way to say thank you in Costa Rica and in the bus he made about 1 hour advertising for booking extra trips. We didn't like. Accomodation was good. Beach not for swimming. 2. Tirimbina: no water in bathroom before 5:30am, early breakfast was promised us for our tour at 6am, but we never received. Rooms were very dark and beds smelled moldy. Super location, you can walk to mexican restaurant and supermarket and hike on your own in Tirimbina National Park. The 2 tours, especially the night tour were excellent with great guides. 3. Arenal volcan: beautiful hotel, nice area, great view, for driving better don't eat before arriving there. Hikes were nothing special. We were forced to eat hotel food because of the location, expensive and not traditional. The hotel offered many optional tours, but prices were absolutely overpriced. Staff and service in hotel excellent. 4. Ensenada Lodge: very peaceful, very silent, but hotel not good. We had hundrets of ants in the room, coming out of the walls. The entire staff does not speak any english and we received no information about the hotel, activities, opportunities, what ever. So we missed it, to do a hike to a laguna, which we found out on our departure day. Also here we were forced to eat hotel food due to the location, very expensive and super basic. Absolute not worth the price. 5. Macaw Lodge: beautiful accomodation, beautiful area, very silent and peaceful, a lot to discover. Better don't eat before driving up and down there. It's about 1 hour adventure streets ;) We were warned about the Fer De Lance snake and received extra flashlights from the hotel. Staff was nice and we were allowed to eat half portion for half price or only a part of the dinner menu cause we were not very hungry. 26$ for dinner if you take the whole menu. -drivers were always on time and driving safe -the rides were all not longer then 2-3 hours, we liked a lot -no accomodation had a fridge but all offered a swimming pool -elemento natural managed on our last day an earlier departure that we can go to restaurant and supermarket. Thank you a lot for that, we really appreciated that. Also that we could go to La Fortuna City after Arenal Volcán. We asked for 30mins, they offered us 20mins. So we just quickly bought some food...Show more
  Traveled in April 2025
  

  Reply from: Elemento Natural Costa Rica

  Hello Lisanne, first I want to thank you for taking the time to send us feedback, that we value deeply. This gives us great opportunities to improve. I will take good care reviewing one by one and determine where we can make changes to improve. One thing I am surprised to hear is the whatsapp communication, as we are available 24x7 and we did quite some exchange of messaging. One feedback we have been getting a lot coincides with the price of meals at the restaurants of the hotels. As we also try to find special out of the beaten path locations, these are usually a bit remote and obviously not in the city centers. Again, thank you for the comments, and of course thank you for visiting!

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